Mini to Launch 5-Door Cooper Hatch

The third-generation Mini Cooper will include a five-door variant when it hits showrooms next year.

The Mini brand has no lack of derivatives, but before all is said and done, it will roll out at least one more. These images confirm that for the first time in more than fifty years, Mini will offer its retro hatchback as a five-door when the third generation goes on sale next year. Centrally-mounted exhaust tips hints that the prototype is the sportier Cooper S variant of the new Mini five-door, which will be built on the same UKL1 platform as the three-door Cooper but with an extended wheelbase to accommodate the extra doors.

The roof height also appears to have been raised. Under the hood, the new generation of Minis will start (in Europe at least) with BMW's new three-cylinder engine. In the US, however, the base Cooper will be powered by a turbocharged 1.5-liter engine with 121 horsepower and 133 pound-feet of torque, and the Cooper S will get an uprated version with at least as much power as the current 181hp model. The new 2014 Mini is set to debut in the first half of 2013, with the as-yet unnamed five-door variant to arrive soon after. Considering Mini's relentless drive to offer its dealers a fuller range, we're wondering if Mini Salesman has been registered.